As we scramble to get all of our holiday shopping done, I wanted to send a reminder to practice good online shopping habits. Most of you, I’m sure, are careful shoppers, so use this as a reminder and hopefully one less thing to stress about during this busy season.
- Shop where you trust! If you or a friend has had a good shopping experience, factor that into your buying decisions.
- Do your research. Ask yourself questions before handing over your credit card to a seller you’re unfamiliar with. Potential questions can include, “Does this feel right?” “Is this legit?” “Do they have customer or industry ratings?”
- Consider virtual credit cards. Both MC and VISA have programs that offer “virtual credit cards” or one-time use cards. Some banks provide this type of service for free and are worth checking into. Google Pay, Apple Pay, and PayPal are all options as well if the merchant accepts them.
- Beware of high discounts. Many experts predict that as high as 40% of electronics purchased via sites like Amazon are counterfeit! We’ve seen this ourselves over the years as counterfeiting is big business overseas! If you see an electronic device that is priced too good to be true, it probably is.
- Is the webpage secure? Never purchase when the site you are visiting does not use privacy protection. How do you know? You will either see a padlock to the left of the website address (meaning secure) or may notice that the site is not using HTTPS (using HTTP instead).
That’s it for today!